Hurricane Daniel hit eastern Libya on September 10, causing severe flooding.
On the 14th, a convoy of Libyan NGOs loaded with some civilian aid materials entered the hardest-hit city of Derna. According to the head of the non-governmental organization, the first convoy consisted of five vehicles, carrying urgently needed materials in the disaster area, including medicines, food, infant formula, clothing, etc., and the second convoy will arrive soon.
How did Hurricane Daniel cross the Mediterranean Sea causing floods to hit Libya?
On the 4th of this month, a storm formed over Greece and swept through central Greece, bringing a lot of precipitation to the area and causing flooding. As it traveled south to the Mediterranean, the storm evolved into Mediterranean Hurricane Daniel and made landfall in Libya, bringing flooding that caused two dams upstream of the city of Derna to burst. Let's use satellite images to understand how Hurricane Daniel flooded Libya.
Due to the record heat in Europe this summer, the sea temperature in the Mediterranean is very high, and the storm over Greece absorbed a large amount of warm water vapor as it traveled south across the Mediterranean, and evolved into Mediterranean hurricane Daniel. On the 10th, "Daniel" landed on the Mediterranean coast of eastern Libya.
In the early morning of the 11th, the first dam upstream of the city of Derna collapsed, and a tsunami-like flood poured down the valley of the Derna River and rushed towards the city of Derna. At about 2:30 a.m. on the 11th, residents of the city of Derna heard a loud noise, probably the sound of the collapse of the second dam. In the blink of an eye, a quarter of the city of Derna was flooded.
Residential areas, highways, bridges, ports... Everywhere the flood went, it destroyed everything.
Residents of Derna: It started raining around 9 p.m. the day before (10th), and at 2 a.m. the next day (11th), I was at home, my house was on the 3rd floor, and the flood came and washed away all the cars on the road.
Resident of the city of Derna: It was a disaster. My sister, her son, daughter, and granddaughter, and a family of 11 were killed.
Derna, where 20,000 people may have been killed, was also hit hard by flooding
The coastal city of Derna is currently the worst affected. So, what is the specific situation in and around Derna, and how is the rescue progressing?
This is the 14th of Delna, and the video shows the neighborhood strewn with rubble, cars engulfed in mud and rubble, and two dams upstream of the city of Derna, which have fallen apart. In the aftermath of the disaster, emergency rescue teams and some international rescue teams from all over Libya have arrived in the city of Derna. Search and rescue are extremely difficult due to the large number of missing people buried in rubble, submerged in mud or washed up into the sea.
Arab television quoted the mayor of Derna as saying that depending on the extent of the damage, it is expected that the number of people killed by flooding in the city of Derna could reach 18,000 to 20,000. At the same time, he said that the bodies of the victims who could not be removed in time may trigger the spread of infectious diseases. At present, the electricity in Derna city is still being restored, 60% of the residential areas have been electrified, and the local affected residents are also actively carrying out self-help.
Valdia, about 143 kilometers west of Derna, was also hit hard by flooding. The video shows that after the floodwaters receded, the deformed and cracked roads were revealed, houses collapsed along the road, and the ground was covered in mud and sand. Local residents have sent out distress signals and are waiting for help.
The eastern Libyan coastal village of Susa was also the hardest hit by the floods. At present, Susa has been completely washed away by flooding, but the rescue team has not yet reached the Susa area due to the obstruction of roads connecting with the outside world. Libya's emergency and emergency services said a humanitarian disaster could strike Susa. Since the 13th, all power and communications in the area have been cut off, which has also complicated communication work, and the power system here has not yet been restored. Before the floods, there were about 8,000 residents in Susa, and it is unclear how many people died in the flooding in the area.
Victims: I live about 40 kilometers from Susa. So far, there are many people who have disappeared in the valley and we do not know if they are still alive. Where I live, we lost 8 of our compatriots.
French media: The flood in Derna is a wake-up call for climate change and old infrastructure is in urgent need of improvement
Some French media analyzed that the deadly flooding brought by Hurricane Daniel to Libya has sounded the alarm for climate change and the dangerous situation of lack of maintenance of old infrastructure in the context of climate change.
The city of Derna is located in a river valley and has a low terrain. Due to years of war, there is no unified central government management, the local infrastructure is old, and the flood control and flood resistance capacity is weak. At the time of the incident, there was neither a flood warning system nor an evacuation emergency plan. In Libya, the consequences of the floods were particularly severe due to global warming, desertification and rising sea levels.
Shirley Sitbon, science and technology correspondent for France 24: The situation in Libya is that there are many coastlines, these low-lying areas are densely populated settlements, and the people who live there are at risk. It's also very hot, we know global warming, there's a lot of desertification in Libya, where temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius last summer, deforestation, rising sea levels, erosion of coastlines. The soil there is very dry, so when it rains and floods, the disaster is even worse.
In addition to the collapse of the Derna dam this time, there have been cases of dams being washed away by floods in other parts of the world, such as the United States and Indonesia.
In the face of climate change, countries and regions need to better adapt to changing conditions in the face of climate change.
(Source: CCTV News)
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